And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. (Rev. 12:11)
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Mar 31, 2015

Cranmer Got the Top Job but Didn't Want it

When Thomas Cranmer learned he had been named
Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry VIII, he balked. Visiting Germany
at the time to promote the King's interest in a divorce, he dawdled seven
weeks getting back to England. Although the King's word was law,
Cranmer hesitated to accept the position.

The English church was in a turmoil over the question of Henry's desired
divorce from Catherine. Having presented him with no male heir, the queen,
once so charming to Henry, was now repugnant. Yet he could not get the
Pope to agree to an annulment.

Cranmer had come to the King's attention when, in conversation with two of
Henry's men, he had suggested that the universities could just as well
settle the question as the Pope. Henry swore Cranmer had "the right
sow by the ear." He earmarked the priest to become Archbishop of
Canterbury, England's highest religious post. Cranmer was consecrated
on this date, March 30, 1533.
Believing himself subject to the King, Cranmer promptly granted Henry
the annulment. Throughout his tenure as archbishop, he would do pretty
much whatever the King commanded. Henry's continual shifts of policy often
made Cranmer appear wishy-washy. For example, he ruled Henry's marriage
to Anne of Cleve lawful and six months later annulled it as unlawful.

Already leaning toward Protestantism, Cranmer became the chief architect
of the English Reformation. He urged the King to place Bibles in England's
churches and it was done. He wrote the first Book of Common Prayer.
In only a few things did he resist Henry. At some jeopardy to himself,
he pleaded for the lives of Thomas More and Bishop Fisher and testified
for three days against Henry's Six Articles which went back to
Roman Catholic forms. However, he sat with the persecutors of John Frith
and Joan of Kent, both of whom were executed by fire.

By his twisting and turning, Cranmer escaped execution under Henry. Henry
trusted him above all his other prelates and on his deathbed clung
to Cranmer's hand. Under Edward, Cranmer advanced Protestantism, helping
draft doctrines which became the basis for the Church of England's Thirty
Nine Articles.

Under pressure, Cranmer supported Lady Jane Gray to succeed Edward. It
was not to be. Mary took the throne and charged him with treason and heresy.
In face of death he recanted his Protestant opinions. When he learned
he was to die anyway, he publicly renounced his recantation. "As
for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy and Antichrist, with all
his false doctrine." When the fire was lit, he held the hand that
had signed the recantation into the flame, burning it off before the fire
touched his body, saying, "This unworthy right hand." As death
approached he repeated several times, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."